Cricket coach murdered

last updated 8 January 2015

Kingston, Jamaica

The coach of Pakistan’s national cricket team was strangled to death, Jamaican police said this week, and speculation was rife that the murder was related to the game’s seamy underside. Bob Woolmer’s bruised body was found in his Kingston hotel room, following Pakistan’s upset loss to Ireland in cricket’s World Cup. Police say possible suspects include disappointed fans and even Pakistan’s cricketers, but press reports focused on the high-stakes gambling and allegations of game-fixing that have dogged the sport. Shortly before his murder, Woolmer told a Pakistani journalist that he was working on a book that would give the “honest facts” about match fixing in cricket. He was worried, he said, because page proofs were missing. Initial reports from Jamaica had indicated that Woolmer died of a heart attack.